Enterprising Boy Seeks 6,000 Toys for Holiday Joy

Admission to Spencer Wampole’s house party didn’t require being part of the cool crowd or access to a kicking outfit. Classmates seeking entry to the 12-year-old’s Newport Coast bash Saturday night had only to bring a toy.

A total of 62 kids brought 92 toys. The take: seven teddy bears, numerous model race cars and Barbies, a tea set, games and a candle-making kit, among others. Spencer said Sunday that he briefly considered keeping the “really cool” package of Nerf balls for every sport. But he made a vow, and he plans to stick to it.

The student at Tarbut V’Torah school in Irvine aims to collect 6,000 toys to distribute to less fortunate children over the holidays. The campaign would complete the community service project requirement for his bar mitzvah Aug. 4.

“My parents have always taught me that givers always gain the most,” said Spencer, who donated 10 toys himself. “Since I hope to accomplish a lot in my life, I guess that means I’ll have to give a lot.”

Collecting holiday toys isn’t new for the Wampoles. Spencer’s parents, Dan and Carole, have hosted a toy drive every holiday season for a dozen years. Last year, they gave away about 5,000 new games, stuffed animals and dolls.

Although Spencer helped his parents with the drive in years past, this is the first time he has assumed operational control.

“I don’t think I have the words to explain how proud I am of this child,” said Dan Wampole, adding that his son seems to be 12-going-on-30. “He’s just an awesome kid.”

Spencer, an aspiring anesthesiologist, thinks big. He is asking representatives of 500 Orange County law firms if he can leave an empty box in their offices for toy collections. He hopes to have collection sites in at least 125 firms.

He got the list of attorneys from his parents, who run a legal staffing company that supplies permanent and part-time help for law offices, and began putting in calls. He also plans to knock on neighbors’ doors, asking them if they would donate a toy for his holiday drive. “Then I’ll set a date with them to come back and pick up the toys,” Spencer said.

The toys will be kept in a storage facility until they can be turned over to Toys for Tots, a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve program, which will distribute them around the county. In 1999, the national organization distributed more than 13.8 million toys to nearly 5.9 million needy children.

Spencer could have chosen to pick up trash at a local beach, scrub dishes at a homeless shelter or read to hospitalized patients for his bar mitzvah project.

But the honor student was seeking a mammoth challenge: beating his dad’s toy-collection record.

“I think he saw this as a multiple opportunity,” Dan Wampole said. “He wanted to do something great for the world. And he wanted to show his dad up.”

Spencer said he knows he lives “such a good life,” and that he has so much more than children of the poor and homeless. Giving them toys, he figured, would bring the most happiness.

“I thought [the toy project] would help more kids than any of the other ones,” he said. “This is a chance for someone to wake up and know they were thought of on the holiday.”

Collecting 6,000 toys is a daunting goal, said Peter Tagni, an Orange County Toys for Tots coordinator and retired Marine Corps officer.

“He’s got his work cut out for him,” he added. “I don’t know of anyone who has come up with 6,000. That’s a lot of boxes and a lot of collection sites.”

Spencer isn’t worried. He figures with the help of his parents and their Suburban, he can collect all the donations, even bring them to the Marines if necessary.

“I just know this will make kids very happy,” he said.